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The Alliance to Restore the Republic / The New Republic
The Rebel Alliance in General
The Alliance to Restore the Republic
"Rebellions are built on hope."
— Jyn Erso
Formed by Bail Organa and Mon Mothma after the Clone Wars, the Rebel Alliance has only one goal in mind: to overthrow the evil Galactic Empire and restore freedom to the galaxy by rebuilding the Galactic Republic. Many volunteers, defectors and veterans come to serve the Rebels' valiant cause and, despite the overwhelming odds, eventually triumphing over the Empire at the Battle of Endor.
- Adaptational Badass: They are a lot more effective of a fighting force than they were in Legends, forcing the Empire to surrender within a year of Endor.
- The Alliance: They are an alliance of free systems and anti-Imperial rebel cells unified to defeat the Galactic Empire.
- The Battlestar: Like Star Destroyers, the Mon Calamari cruisers have a complement of starfighters aboard. Unlike the Empire, the Rebels have greater emphasis on their carrier strength, meaning their cruisers have weaker armaments and shields despite being the equivalent of a Star Destroyer (which emphasizes its main guns rather than its starfighter wing).
- Cool People Rebel Against Authority: Part of the reason why several young people joined the Rebel Alliance was because it was seen as ideal over the oppressive Empire.
- Heroic Resolve: The defining trait of many Rebels is their ability to persevere in seemingly-hopeless situations.
- Hit-and-Run Tactics: Being an underground resistance movement, this is their primary means of attack.
- Icon of Rebellion: The signature Alliance Starbird
, which has since become part of New Republic iconography. - Insistent Terminology: Their official name is the Alliance to Restore the Republic, and place much emphasis on that to dispel the notion that they are terrorists.
- Just Like Robin Hood: Aren't above using assistance from pirates or gangsters just to keep themselves afloat, but people are still happier to see them than the Empire.
- Mildly Military: The Rebellion is this in spades. They hand out generalships like they're made of candy. This is justified in that they're La Résistance and thus have a lot of amateurs in the ranks, right? Except they do have career military and politicians in their ranks. They're inheriting this tradition from the Republic, which made all the Jedi into generals during the Clone War.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Rebels are composed of individuals of all species, but many lack the military experience that their enemies possess.
- The Resistance: Although they are formally known as the Alliance to Restore the Republic, everyone refers to them as "the Rebels". Their successors would actually take "the Resistance" as their organizational title.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Bureaucratized: Averted. Restoring the Republic is their highest goal after defeating the Empire.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Vilified: Played with. During its initial years (as portrayed in Andor and Rogue One), the Rebellion was willing to engage in political assassinations, sabotage, and other unsavory actions, but only out of desperation. By the time Luke Skywalker's era comes around, they play this fully straight. Unlike the Separatist Alliance, the Rebels are indeed heroic champions of the oppressed, with no ambiguities in their heroism. Nobody in the Rebellion is "bad", and the public celebrates their victory over the Empire at the end of Return of the Jedi.
- Standard Sci-Fi Army: On the ground, the Rebels rely on special forces and whatever vehicles they have on hand, mostly older Clone Wars-era equipment. They also depend on allying with local Indigs, such as the Ewoks.
- Standard Sci-Fi Fleet: Being a resistance movement, they are much, much smaller than the Imperial Military. The fleet consists of Mon Calamari capital ships and an assortment of smaller corvettes and frigates. The primary weapons are starfighters, including the iconic X-Wing snubfighter, Y-Wing bomber, A-Wing interceptor, and B-Wing assault fighter.
- Straw Civilian: The sole appearance of their civilian leadership features them being unpleasant, obstructive, and cowardly in the face of a genuine need for military action against the Death Star.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Although they were vastly outnumbered and outgunned, with the odds stacked against them, the Rebel Alliance managed to attain two significant victories with the destruction of both Death Stars.
- Velvet Revolution: Initially, the individuals involved in the Rebel Alliance attempted to do this within the Imperial Senate, trying to negotiate for a less oppressive government. Unfortunately, the Empire rapidly began transferring authority away from the Senate to the military until it became little more than formality to lend the appearance of democracy in the Empire. By the time the first Death Star became operational, Emperor Palpatine decided to drop the pretense of democracy entirely and dissolve the Senate, removing any hope of the Rebel-aligned Senators using what little power it still had to oppose him.
- We ARE Struggling Together: Not evident in the original trilogy, but later works have delved into the trouble they have with maintaining an Alliance between different factions who have little in common besides disliking the Empire. Presumably it stopped being as much of a problem after the destruction of Alderaan.
- You Rebel Scum!: Commonly said word-for-word by Imperials to the Rebels in question. In-universe, Imperial propaganda appears to have turned the word "rebel" into the equivalent of "terrorist".
The New Republic in General
The New Republic
"When we look back upon the war against the Empire—upon the billions of lives lost—sometimes it seems as though nothing could ever have been worth the terrible price we paid. But when we think of those people who perished in the conflict, let us remember that they died for justice. For liberty. For the extraordinary peace we now enjoy. This is what we fought for."
— Senator Tai-Lin Garr
Capital World: Chandrila (first), unspecified number of Core and Mid-Rim worlds, Hosnian Prime (last).
Having achieved victory at Endor, the Rebel Alliance rebranded itself as the New Republic in 5 ABY, restoring freedom and democracy to the galaxy. Though its membership was smaller than the Old Republic's due to many worlds choosing to become independent or joining smaller galactic powers. Despite this, they still were the most powerful galactic power in the known galaxy under the leadership of Mon Mothma. However, by 28 ABY, the New Republic's senate had devolved into constant political in-fighting between the pro-regional autonomy "Populists" and the aristocratic "Centrists", which prevented them from restoring order and stability to the Outer Rim. This led to many star systems defecting to a fledging neo-Imperial galactic state known as the First Order, formed by descendants of Imperial radicals, political sympathizers and kidnapped/brainwashed conscripts just coming out of hiding from the Unknown Regions — who promised to restore order to the galaxy where the New Republic had failed.
In 34 ABY, thirty years after the defeat of the Empire and the formation of the New Republic, the First Order declares war on the Republic after years of tensions by destroying the entire Hosnian System — which housed their current capital and most of their fleet — using Starkiller Base, a planet-size weapon ten times bigger than the second Death Star.
With the senate and most of their military and fleet destroyed, the remaining loyal star systems either surrendered to the First Order or abandoned the rest of the Republic worlds to protect themselves with their own local forces, allowing the First Order to easily conquer most of the galaxy.
A year after the New Republic was devastated, most of its member systems were either under siege or have surrendered willingly to the First Order; leaving only General Leia Organa's Resistance, a successor to the old Rebellion, standing for democracy and freedom in the galaxy.
- Adaptational Wimp: Zig-Zagged. Compared to the government from Legends, the New Republic in Canon appears weaker and more incompetent at first glance. Only having three defense fleets and a peace-keeping force by the time of The Force Awakens, unlike the Legends continuity where they would become the dominant force in the galaxy before its partition. However, in canon they managed to crush the Empire much faster, only to end up inheriting many of same problems that led to the rise of the Empire in the first place. Most of this comes down to their Legends counterpart having been written before the Prequels established the Galactic Republic as highly corrupt, and thus portrayed the New Republic as a well-oiled, if stretched-thin, machine which was almost constantly at war with the Imperial Remnant and later the Yuuzhan Vong. Post-Prequel Era works on that timeline would likewise make it clear they wanted to move away from the problems that plagued the Old Republic, while in the new canon, the New Republic had a lot of people who basically wanted to go back to the ways of the Old Republic. Likewise, they grew complacent and hugely downsized their armed forces which crippled them when their home fleet (their largest fleet) was destroyed alongside the Hosnian System as the other two fleets were recalled to protect the remaining loyal systems that didn't surrender to the First Order.
- Adaptational Badass: Played With. On one hand, they managed to destroy the Empire and force them into a peace treaty a year after Endor (by contrast the Legends New Republic took roughly fifteen years to do so, although Canon does omit most of the post Endor Imperial warlords and leadership like Zsinji and Ysanne Isard) and create an era of peace the Legends galaxy never quite managed to get for decades. However, this peace made the New Republic complacent and they significantly downsized their military, sliding into factionalism and political gridlock once Mon Mothma left office. As a result, they fell easily to the First Order after the destruction of Hosnian Prime. Meanwhile, the New Republic in Legends had by this point in the timeline been restructured into the Galactic Alliance after having emerged victorious from the far more devastating Yuuzhan Vong War.
- All for Nothing: Twenty years of suffering and sacrifice fighting the Empire went down the drain, as the New Republic is a dysfunctional farce. Leia, in particular, is bitter about how much of a disappointment the Republic turned into, as building it was her life's work. The destruction of the Hosnian System where most of the senators and the New Republic military were stationed just cemented its fall.
- Betrayal by Inaction: While there was also the justification that maintaining law and order over a fractured galaxy takes a lot of work, along with Imperial agents manipulating the situation, the New Republic's bureaucracy were perfectly willing to ignore calls for help from outlying planets who'd declined to join them.
- Brainwashing for the Greater Good: Apparently the New Republic weren't completely naïve enough to trust every Imperial agent who joined up did so out of the goodness of their heart, and used a repurposed Imperial Mind Probe to help... "adjust" difficult cases. All perfectly painless! ... unless the setting "mysteriously" got set too high.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Republic Fleet versus a surprise attack from Starkiller Base... Guess who wins. Particularly notable as a loss as it hit the New Republic so hard that it completely ruined their ability to fight back against the First Order or to aid the Resistance afterward.
- Decapitated Army: They attempt to defy it by decentralizing military forces to local star systems (since the centralized Grand Army of the Republic was the key to Palpatine's dictatorship) but evidently, those star systems need central leadership to mount a defense against outside threats. When the Hosnian System got destroyed, it sends the rest of the New Republic in disarray, effectively ending them as a governing entity. The fact that the majority of New Republic fleet just happened to be stationed in the Hosnian System when it blew up doesn't help.
- Democracy Is Flawed: A genuinely democratic and benevolent government, but too prone to indolence and pacifism. The Constitution for the New Republic is useless, having been written to essentially make decision-making impossible. The fact that the Centrist faction is mostly composed of descendants of the Imperial elite who wanted a centralized government that would certainly benefit them in many ways while the Populists wanted each planet/species to have their own political voice, authority and military in the Republic made decision-making in the Senate impossible after its establishment.
- Demoted to Extra: The New Republic was an important part of the old Legends Expanded Universe due to their continuous conflicts with the Imperial Remnant, Dark Side users and the Yuuzhan Vong. However, in the rebooted Expanded Universe they are portrayed as useless and unimportant, and are easily decimated during the events of The Force Awakens.note The New Republic has been so out-of-focus that much of the confirmed information about it comes from the novels Aftermath (which details its foundation following the Battle of Endor) and Bloodlines (which details its political system and how bad it was a few years before The Force Awakens). This does seem to be changing as of late with more works set in the New Republic era such as Squadrons, The Mandalorian and Ahsoka.
- Depending on the Writer
- Some writers and lore keepers have said that at least 3/4 of the Republic fleet was destroyed alongside the Hosnian Systemnote . However, directors J. J. Abrams and Rian Johnson, alongside others, have claimed that, indeed, the entire fleet was destroyed to explain why no faction can stand against the First Order.
- Sometimes the New Republic is portrayed as very benevolent but incompetent and other times is portrayed as highly corrupt and dysfunctional.
- Didn't Think This Through: They allowed former Imperials to work in every. Level. of their new government. There was no way that wasn't going to bite them in the ass and hard.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: The New Republic as a state is all but officially dissolved with the destruction of Hosnian Prime and the Home Fleet by the system-destroying superweapon Starkiller Base during the events of The Force Awakens.
- Expy: They're almost identical to the Old Republic in The Phantom Menace, albeit with less corruption and more outright incompetence.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The New Republic could be seen as a smoothie of various post-authoritarian democracies, like Spain or the former Eastern Block. Their main political and cultural conflict, when you get down to it, is between idealistic supporters of the new government and those who miss the old regime.
- Fatal Flaw: Like the pre-Empire Jedi Order before them, they are done in by their complacency. The New Republic figures that there's no way the remnants of the old Empire can harm them and allows the First Order to grow in power completely unchecked, with utterly disastrous results once Starkiller Base comes online.
- The Federation: A far more democratic one than the Old Republic, it has become the preeminent superpower in the galaxy by the time of the sequel trilogy.
- Fictional Political Party: In the days before The Force Awakens, two main political parties emerged: the Centrists, who favor a strong central government, and the Populists, who want individual systems to keep more power.
- Glory Days: The Republic's elder statesmen outlasted the Empire they set out to fight and as a result, the Senate doesn't really know what to do with themselves. The Populists and Centrists are both rooted in the revival of alleged past triumphs, trying to recreate the pre-Palpatine Republic and the pre-Jakku Empire, respectively.
- Head-in-the-Sand Management: Many members of the New Republic Senate accuse Princess Leia and those like her of being a vicious warmonger or deny the threat of The First Order. Others believe they're right but that they should appease the First Order rather than go to war. A small number of senators are even The Quisling, working for it within.
- Idiot Hero: Something of an Idiot Hero society — they're utterly useless when they're needed most and their government ignored the First Order until right when it blew them up.
- I Reject Your Reality: The Centrists have an undercurrent of what can only be described as the Star Wars equivalent of Holocaust denial. Some of them reject the Republic's historical narrative of Imperial atrocities, claiming that the mass murder, political repression, and slavery were merely figments of propaganda. Since some Centrists are former Imperials or work for the First Order, it's probably a result of concealing genuine Imperial revanchism beneath an exaggerated Grey and Gray narrative.
- Lowered Recruiting Standards: It retained or recruited many ex-Imperial or neutral figures and workers as there were too many to be feasibly tried or replaced. Unfortunately many of them would prove apathetic, incompetent, or Imperial loyalists, all of which served to undermine them.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Mon Mothma more or less single-handedly wrote the Constitution and did so with the express purpose of creating a neutered weak central government which could never again give rise to tyranny. This resulted in a large number of those favoring stronger government to secretly work for the First Order.
- After the Empire was "officially" defeated, many former Imperial personnel were repatriated, partly on the belief that many of them were merely blowing with the prevailing wind, but also because otherwise they'd have no workforce at all. However, this allowed many legitimate loyalists to slip through the system and undermine the New Republic from within.
- The New Republic is shown and stated to be making a concerted effort to avoid the mistakes that enabled Palpatine's rise in the first place. This lead to policies such as rotational capitol worlds (instead of keeping power entirely in Coruscant) and cutting down its armies (compared to creating another Grand Army of the Republic). Unfortunately, these also make it harder for them to face the First Order once it becomes evident that it's much stronger than the Republic believed.
- By destroying Leia's political influence after it was leaked that she was Darth Vader's daughter, they prevented her from having a big enough army to defeat the First Order, allowing this faction to become too powerful.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Claudia Gray's Star Wars: Bloodline makes them a dead ringer for the United States's gridlock-heavy political scene.
- Nostalgia Filter:
- Some New Republic senators of the Centrists feel as though the Imperial Senate itself wasn't that bad, ignoring the fact that Palpatine shut it down in order to ensure that he would have even more power, and that The Empire itself was horribly oppressive. Unsurprisingly, many of these same senators end up working for the First Order to restore said Empire to its former glory.
- The Populists and Mon Mothma meanwhile view the Old Republic this way, doing their very best to recreate the toothless and non-confrontational government that existed before the Clone Wars instead of creating a better government or a better army. Even though the corruption, complacency, and Grand Army of the Old Republic were what led to Palpatine taking over.
- Out of Focus: As a whole, the New Republic has been kept in the background of the Post-Empire era outside of the Star Wars: Aftermath novel trilogy and the novel Star Wars: Bloodline, with most media set in this era focusing either on New Republic pilots, Resistance members or people that live/work in regions where the New Republic has limited influence/control, with little to no focus put on the politics of the era. This seems to be changing as of The Mandalorian and its spin-off series, however, which shows what the new government's been up to before their eventual destruction at the hands of the First Order.
- Pacifism Backfire: They didn't want to recreate the Empire 2.0 by ruling through force and instead aimed for a more diplomatic government. One of the main problems with that is that they did so before making sure the Empire and any other major threats were truly gone, The Remnant was able to rebuild themselves as a strength on par with the Empire in a matter of a few decades and curb-stomped the Republic.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Bureaucratized: Averted. In sharp contrast to the New Republic of the old expanded universe, this New Republic was able to make a successful transition from a rebellion to a fully functioning galactic government.
- Sucksessor: To the Old Republic and the Empire. While the Old Republic at least lasted for 1,000 years before corruption make it too weak to solve even minor problems because of greedy senators, the New Republic repeated some of the same mistakes, and lasted for only 30 years. In addition, many Imperials who were still loyal to Palpatine's ideas of peace saw the New Republic as illegal and illegitimate, since they overthrew Palpatine and ruined all of his hard work with crappy reforms such as cutting down on army sizes and giving power back to the Senate, which revived corruption in a heartbeat.
- Suicidal Pacifism: The New Republic disarms its own military in order to prevent another tyranny from arising from within. However, this allows the First Order to claim power almost completely unchecked and avenge the Empire by destroying them.
- Suspiciously Small Army: The Military Disarmament Act reduced the New Republic Defense Forces to just a few infantry divisions and three defense fleets. This ended up biting them in the rear when the Hosnian System was destroyed by Starkiller Base, which happened to have almost the entire Defense Force stationed there, thus crippling the ability of most of the New Republic systems to defend themselves from the First Order with the remaining Defense Forces ordered to defend the few member systems that refused to surrender to the First Order.
- Vestigial Empire: According to source books, after the destruction of the Hosnian System, a substantial portion of the New Republic's systems surrendered to the First Order and some member systems declared themselves its successor state in an attempt to slow or stall the encroachment of the First Order.
- We Have Become Complacent: They grow badly complacent after the Empire was driven into the Outer Regions. They almost completely demilitarize themselves, and dismiss those who realize the growing threat of the First Order as paranoid fear-mongers until they are staring down the proverbial gun barrel.
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- When Hosnian Prime was destroyed alongside the home fleet, the New Republic disappears from the story and is barely mentioned again in the films or tie-in material, not explaining about where the rest of the fleet and the armed forces are or why they have not tried to connect with them.
- The state of the New Republic after the defeat of the Final Order is this. Whether or not it will stay fractured, eventually reform, or something entirely different will happen is not elaborated in the Sequel Trilogy. Lore tied to sourcebooks indicate that the other key worlds of the New Republic formed a series of Vestigial Republics in an attempt to stave off the First Order's rapid period of expansion. The novelization to The Rise of Skywalker indicates that reforming the New Republic is possible in the wake of the defeat of the Final Order's leadership at Exegol, along with the subsequent uprisings against the First Order around the galaxy.
- Won the War, Lost the Peace: A Downplayed Trope example. They successfully defeated the Galactic Empire but allowed something just as bad to come from its own ranks, which became their undoing 30 years later.
Other Rebel and New Republic Character Pages
Rebel Alliance and New Republic Heroes
Rebel Alliance and New Republic Leadership
Rebel Alliance and New Republic Military
Rebel and New Republic Leadership
Rebel Founders
Bail Organa
Viceroy Bail Prestor Organa
"Help us, General Kenobi. You're our only hope."
Species: Human (Alderaanian)
Homeworld: Alderaan
Portrayed by: Jimmy Smits
Voiced by: Phil LaMarr
Voiced by (Latin American Spanish dub): Gerardo Reyero (movies)
Voiced by (Japanese dub): Masaki Terasoma
Appearances: Queen's Shadow | Attack of the Clones | Queen's Hope | Brotherhood | Tales of the Jedi | The Clone Wars | Revenge of the Sith | The Bad Batch | Obi-Wan Kenobi | Ahsoka | Rebels | Princess of Alderaan | Rebel Rising | Rogue One | Princess Leianote | From a Certain Point of View
"The simplest gesture of kindness can fill a galaxy with hope."
A member of Alderaan's royal family and the planet's representative in the Galactic Senate. He and a set of like-minded allies banded together to form a pocket of resistance against Chancellor Palpatine's grabs for power during the Clone Wars, which eventually grew into the Rebel Alliance. At the end of the war, Bail adopted his friend Padmé Amidala's newborn daughter Leia and raised her to join the cause against the Galactic Empire.
- Art-Shifted Sequel: Due to the differing art styles of the shows, Bail has less chiseled features in Rebels compared to The Clone Wars, as well as narrower eyes and a thinner beard and mustache.
- Ascended Extra: Senator Bail Organa was notable in Attack of the Clones only due to the knowledge that the planet he represented was Alderaan and that he would become Leia's adopted father. In Revenge of the Sith, he takes on a major role in the story, also explaining how he would be one of the few people who would know Obi-Wan went to Tatooine. He also has major or supporting roles in several episodes of The Clone Wars.
- Babies Ever After: Downplayed with Breha, as they were unable to biologically have a child, Revenge of the Sith shows how they would adopt their future daughter, Leia.
- Badass Pacifist: He comes from the peaceful world of Alderaan, but he can put up a fight if he needs to. For instance, when two bounty hunters attempt to strong-arm him to keep him from giving a speech.
- Benevolent Conspiracy: Along with Mon Mothma, Padmé Amidala and several other senators, he helped found the beginnings of the Rebel Alliance behind Palpatine's back in the waning days of the Republic.
- Big Damn Heroes: Does this twice in Ahsoka, if indirectly, as thanks to him sending people looking for her Ahsoka Tano is saved from a Black Sun agent; and later he sends a whole fleet, including the Tantive IV, to save the people of Raada.
- Big Good: He was one of the driving forces behind the formation of the Rebel Alliance and started working to subvert the Empire the day Order 66 was issued. Bail remained in this role for the Rebellion until his death on Alderaan.
- Big "NO!": As he witnesses young Padawan Zett Jukassa being gunned down by the Clone Troopers.
- Blue Is Heroic: Many of his outfits come in varying shades of blue, underlining his status as a heroic character and Rebel Leader (or future Rebel Leader).
- Brainy Brunette: An intelligent politician with black hair.
- The Cameo:
- Bail can be seen with General Dodonna watching Mon Mothma's transmission in the Rebels episode "Secret Cargo".
- Jimmy Smits has a small part as Bail Organa in Rogue One, reprising his role from Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.
- Collared by Fashion: Several of his outfits include high collars that cover most or all of his neck.
- Corrupt Politician: An inversion. Like Padmé, Bail was one of the few non-corrupt Senators of the Republic.
- Didn't Think This Through: He left encrypted information for Leia on Birren, anticipating that she would be delighted to accept the governorship. He clearly didn't calculate for what would happen should anyone else access that information...
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Notably in that he hadn't even been introduced at the point when he was canonically killed off.
- Face Death with Dignity: When he sees the Death Star orbiting Alderaan, he knows he's doomed and simply takes his wife's hand, dying with her.
- The Ghost: In A New Hope. He's mentioned a few times, but doesn't make it onscreen before he's killed.
- The Good King: He's a Royal Consort as opposed to a king, though he's undoubtedly a benevolent ruler, serving Alderaan as a Senator and spreading his lessons on helping the planet and commitment to peace to his daughter, Leia.
- Good Parents: He and his wife, Breha, always wanted a little girl, and though Leia Skywalker isn't biologically their daughter, they love her all the same and don't treat her any differently.
- Guile Hero: During the Clone Wars, he managed to outwit Trade Federation Senator Lott Dodd to get much-needed refugee supplies to Ryloth. Bail then used the incompetence of the Senate, which Dodd himself had relied on often, to avoid any consequences for his actions.
- Happily Married: To Breha, with Leia describing them as being soulmates.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: An unwavering supporter of the rights of the people and of the Jedi Order, Bail puts himself in danger multiple times during the rise of the Empire by either criticizing Palpatine's policies or aiding the Jedi. When Order 66 began, the safe thing to do was to stay as far away from the Jedi as possible. What Bail did was head straight for the spaceport and embark on a mission to the Coruscant temple to find any Jedi who had survived, and then to help them however he could. It was because of his incorruptible moral fiber that he became an enemy of the Empire and it eventually led to all of Alderaan being destroyed.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: A rare Hero example, but Lott Dodd had warned Organa that he won't be so lucky next time after he used the Senate's incompetence to cover his tracks. Sure enough, after founding the Rebellion behind Palpatine's back and helping Yoda and Obi-Wan escape, while adopting Leia as his daughter and helping Ahsoka with the citizens of Raada by sending them to an agricultural world, along with other dangerous missions like forcing Obi-Wan out of retirement to help his adopted daughter and giving advice to Kanan, Hera, and the Crew of the Ghost, by the time he hears about the Death Star's completion, he goes to Alderaan to help inspire its people to fight back against the Empire, but Tarkin has the Death Star destroy the planet since Bail was a major leader of the Rebellion, killing him.
- La Résistance: He helps found the Rebel Alliance.
- Law of Inverse Fertility: He and his wife had many difficulties in producing an heir, so he was very happy to adopt Leia.
- Neutral No Longer: Upon seeing the preliminary reports of the Death Star, he was prepared to tell his people that they could no longer afford to be pacifist in the wake of such terrible power. Whether he got to address Alderaan or not, he and the planet were destroyed before they could render any meaningful aid.
- Nice Guy: He's a great father, a loving husband, a good friend, and overall a compassionate, kindhearted man.
- Non-Action Guy: Compared to Padmé and his adopted daughter. However, that's not to say he hasn't seen any action at all, and he has been seen carrying a blaster.
- One Head Taller: Non-romantically to Padmé.
- Our Founder: Just like with Palpatine, he has a statue erected in his honor, albeit for his bravery of founding the Rebel Alliance alongside Mon Mothma and destroying the Empire, even though he died when Tarkin had the Death Star blow up Alderaan. During the Napkin Bombing, one of the hands on the statue is damaged, and by The Force Awakens, Starkiller Base/Illum.
- Papa Wolf: On adopting Leia he promised that she would be loved and Obi-Wan Kenobi proves that he followed through on that. After she's kidnapped Bail pleads with Obi-Wan to rescue her, stating that she's just as important as her brother. When Obi-Wan initially refuses Bail personally travels to Tatooine, risking exposing both of them to convince him to fight.
- Past Experience Nightmare: In Ahsoka, it's mentioned he has recurring nightmares about the night of the Jedi Temple massacre and witnessing the death of Padawan Zett Jukassa at the hands of clone troopers.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He is a major ally of the Jedi and opposed to Palpatine's increasing power grabs. He and his men are the only people seen in the films besides the Wookiees who give the Jedi aid after Order 66 is issued. Even during the tumultuous political climate of the Clone Wars, Padmé states that he is "seen as a voice of reason."
- Rebel Leader: He is one of the founding and leading members of the Rebel Alliance until his death on the eve of the Galactic Civil War.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: He refuses to just lie back and let Palpatine dominate the galaxy, jumping into action immediately to save Yoda and Obi-Wan from Order 66 and then setting up a galaxy-wide resistance movement.
- Ruling Couple: With Breha. He represents Alderaan in the Senate and later becomes Breha's viceroy, while she is Alderaan's queen. The two often provide each other with counsel and make important decisions together.
- Secret-Keeper:
- Of Yoda and Obi-Wan's survival and hiding places note , as well as the birth of Anakin and Padmé's twins.
- He's also one of the few people who knows that Darth Vader is really Anakin Skywalker.
- Took the Wife's Name: Upon marrying Queen Breha of Alderaan, he took her royal surname of Organa. Prestor is his family name by birth.
- Undying Loyalty: To the Jedi Order. When he witnesses the massacre at the Jedi Temple, he immediately departs from Coruscant to try and find Jedi survivors.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Bail Organa unknowingly sows the seeds for many of the events of the Sequel Trilogy via a secret recording he left for Leia, revealing she is the biological daughter of Darth Vader, which eventually falls into the hands of Lady Carise Sindian. The information is in turn revealed to Ransolm Casterfo, who publicly announces it and further unleashes the doom; as a result, the First Order gains in power and Leia's career and influence are utterly destroyed.
Mon Mothma
Senator/Chancellor Mon Mothma
See her entry on the New Republic Senate page.
The Council
In General
- Both Sides Have a Point: Although their bickering puts the Rebellion at risk, each member of the Council is somewhat right.
- Though surrendering to the Empire means giving up on any hope for a better future (which inevitably will need sacrifices), Pamlo is right that any outright action when the threat of the Death Star looms over their heads could easily lead to any number of inhabited worlds being destroyed as retaliation. Stealing the Death Star plans ends up getting Senator Organa and the people of Alderaan killed. note
- Unlike Jebel and Pamlo, Vaspar is not opposed to open warfare against the Empire. However, his position as Minister of Industry makes him well aware of how resource and credit-strapped the Rebellion is, and he sees no way for them to attack the Death Star and carry out a campaign against the Empire at the moment. His fears are proven right: after the Battle of Yavin, the Alliance embarks on a massive offensive in the Mid Rim which eventually proves unsustainable for the Alliance, which is forced to go on the retreat.
- Jebel's opposition to open war due to the civilian casualties it could bring about is validated when the Empire resorts to destroying Alderaan and holding Cloud City hostage in their attempts to root out the Rebel's military.
- Fair-Weather Friend: A fairly useless body and more of a hindrance than a help. When the situation becomes desperate, all three of the Councilors shown refuse to help. Rogue One has to save the Rebellion by directly opposing them.
- Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering: The members of Alliance Council have vastly different ideas on how to respond to the Death Star, and none of them is the same.
- Jebel is quite dismissive of the evidence presented and appears to consider it a ploy by the more militant members of the Rebel Alliance to trick the others into supporting open warfare against the Empire.
- Pamlo advocates complete and outright surrender to the Empire in order to avoid any inhabited worlds from being destroyed.
- Vaspar does not trust any of what Jyn and Bodhi have to say about discovering a potential weakness with the plans from Scarif, believing there to be no hope of defeating it and recommending that the Alliance scatter and go into hiding.
- Straw Civilian: Of the Obstructive Bureaucrat and Dirty Coward variety. They offer no help, and Rogue One has to directly disobey them to save the Rebellion.
Nower Jebel
Senator Nower Jebel
Species: Human
Homeworld: Uyter
Portrayed by: Jonathan Aris
A human male who served in the Imperial Senate as the senator of Uyter. Jebel was the Finance Minister of the Alliance Cabinet and was present on Yavin 4 in the Great Temple of Massassi during the events leading up to the theft of the plans to the Death Star. Following the establishment of the New Republic, Jebel continued to serve as Uyter's senator and as Finance Minister.
- Hidden Depths: He's a fair-weather friend when he's seen in Rogue One, but he's also seen in Empire's End, which means that he stuck with the Alliance through five years of uncertainty and defeats before the decisive victory at Jakku. Additionally, he is quite idealistic about the power of the Senate and wishes to spare the citizens of the galaxy from another war.
- Horrible Judge of Character: The question he never asks is whether a government ruthless and tyrannical enough to govern through terror and militarism, and callous enough to build a planet-killer, could ever be brought to the negotiating table and relinquish its power without first being defeated militarily.
- The Idealist: Honestly believes that the Alliance can force the Empire to stop its abuses through a diplomatic solution within the Senate without the need to engage in any further conflict.
- Jerkass: Definitely not the kindest member of the Rebel Alliance. In the novelization of Rogue One, he outright accuses Jyn of being bribed with freedom from Wobani to tell the Alliance Council a story about the Death Star. Considering that Jyn is a former member of Saw's Partisans, whom Jebel despises, it is quite clear why he does not trust or like her.
- Jerkass Has a Point: The reason he is so opposed to open warfare against the Empire is because he has seen first hand what effect war can have on civilians, having witnessed the aftermath of Saw Gerrera's terrorist attacks on the Empire and the innocent lives that were claimed. Given what we see of Saw's methods, Jebel's desire to avoid such a conflict is quite reasonable.
- Suicidal Pacifism: He treads dangerously close to this. His horror at Saw's terrorist tactics make him opposed to any move towards war against the Empire and blinds him to the evidence presented about the Death Star.
Tynnra Pamlo
Senator Tynnra Pamlo
"You're asking us to invade an Imperial installation based on nothing but hope?"
Species: Human
Homeworld: Taris
Portrayed by: Sharon Duncan-Brewster
Appearances: The Bad Batch | Princess of Alderaan | Rogue One
"The blood of all Taris will not be on my hands. If it's war you want, you'll fight alone!"
A human female who served in the Imperial Senate as the senator of Taris. Pamlo was a member of the Alliance Cabinet, serving as the Minister of Education. When the existence of the Death Star was revealed to the Alliance, Pamlo advocated surrender and disbanding the Alliance.
- The Cameo: Makes an appearance in the Bad Batch episode "The Clone Conspiracy", speaking to the Imperial Senate.
- Dirty Coward: Immediately calls for the Alliance to surrender in the face of the Death Star and is completely unmoved by Jyn's Dare to Be Badass speech.
- Jerkass Has a Point: She's not necessarily a jerkass so much as she doesn't want her people to be the next in line to be hit by the Death Star, but The Clone Wars has previously stated that Taris had already gone through a worldwide cataclysm in the time of the Old Republic (specifically, it had been subjected to orbital bombardment, as we see in Knights of the Old Republic) and is still recovering to this day, so it's understandable that she doesn't want her world to deal with that kind of stuff again, especially since it's an Earth-Shattering Kaboom this time.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Views the Death Star and its destructive power as unstoppable, declaring that the Rebellion must disband in order to avoid its use.
- Uncertain Doom: After the Alliance meeting on Yavin 4, Pamlo heads back to Coruscant to reveal the Death Star's existence to the Senate before resigning and publicly declaring that the Rebel Alliance should disband. Given that the Senate is disbanded a few days later and many Rebel sympathetic senators are imprisoned (and as we see in Annual #1, executed), Pamlo's fate seems bleak.
Vasp Vaspar
Senator Vasp Vaspar
Species: Human
Portrayed by: Fares Fares
A human male who served in the Imperial Senate as senator of the industrious Taldot Sector. Jebel was a member of the Alliance Cabinet, working as their Minister of Industry. He was present on Yavin IV in the Great Temple of Massassi during the events leading up to the theft of the plans to the Death Star.
- Repetitive Name: Of the "Classic Classical" format, Vasp Vaspar. His actor has one too.
- Tactical Withdrawal: Essentially what he proposes to do in the face of the Death Star's threat: scatter the Alliance, hide the fleet, and wait until a better chance presents itself to strike at the Empire.
Senatorial Aides
Erskin Semaj
Senatorial Attaché Erskin Semaj
Species: Human
Homeworld: Chandrila
Voiced by: Josh Brener
Appearances: Rebels
"Captain Syndulla, Senator Mon Mothma requests your presence."
The senatorial attaché of Senator Mon Mothma of Chandrila. He accompanied her in an escort to Dantooine after she publicly denounced Emperor Palpatine, with help from the Ghost crew and Gold Squadron.
- Ambiguously Brown: His physical features don't appear to be white, and his voice actor is Jewish.
- Cool Helmet: Wears one with a wolf design similar to Mothma's Hanna pendant symbol on it.
- Ink-Suit Actor: He bears resemblance to his voice actor, Josh Brener.
- Tuckerization: His name comes from a Lucasfilm editor, James Erskine.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: His whereabouts after the events of Rebels are currently unknown, especially because Mon Mothma has other aides accompanying her in post-Rebels works.
Other Political Authorities
Olia Choko
Public Relations Representative Olia Choko
Species: Pantoran
Homeworld: Corellia
Appearances: Aftermath
A female Pantoran who served the New Republic as the public relations representative between Chancellor Mon Mothma and the Galactic Senate after the Battle of Endor.
- Nice Girl: She and Tracene both get along rather amiably in their first interlude together, the both of them being a little nervous. Olia also wants the make sure the New Republic is nothing like the Empire and that civilian concerns become known.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: In the middle of an interview, she gets a fruit to the face by a citizen who is frustrated with the New Republic's lack of action on his home planet, which had erupted into chaos after the Empire was driven out of it. Instead of getting into a verbal fight or anything like that with the man, she instead calmly asks him to come onto the camera and explain his qualms against the New Republic. After putting him on the spot and he breaks down in sobs, she immediately invites him to speak to the Senate as a representative of his people and gets another official to help arrange that.
Other Rebel and New Republic Personnel
Sagwa
Sagwa
Species: Wookiee
Homeworld: Kashyyyk
Portrayed by: Attila Vajda
Appearances: Solo | Star Wars (Marvel 2015)
Once a freedom fighter on Kashyyyk, Sagwa was captured and sold as a slave to the Pyke's spice mines on Kessel. He was one of many slaves who was freed by Chewbacca during a coaxium heist. Keeping in contact with Chewie, Sagwa took jobs on Nar Shaddaa until reuniting with his friend and joining the Rebellion.
- All There in the Manual: His backstory is provided in Solo's offical guidebook.
- The Bus Came Back: After last being seen joining other escaping slaves on Kessel, he returns in the second run of the main Star Wars comic series.
- I Owe You My Life: He is indebted to Chewbacca for helping liberate him and the other slaves on Kessel and thus eagerly offers his assistance in helping track down Boba Fett to find Han after he is frozen in carbonite.
- Made a Slave: Upon being captured by the Empire on Kashyyyk, he was sold to the Pyke Syndicate rather than outright killed due to Wookiee's being in high demand for slave labor.
- Nothing but Skin and Bones: In Solo, Sagwa is very skinny and lean for a Wookiee with several bald patches across his body due to the years he has spent working the spice mines and taking hard jobs and punishments for other slaves. He looks much healthier in his appearance in the comics set thirteen years later.
Mich Matt
Mich Matt
Species: Ishi Tib
Voiced by: David Shaughnessy
Appearances: Rebels
One of the many scientists and engineers abducted from their homes by the Empire as a part of Project: Stardust. After being rescued by rebels, he and the others chose to join the Rebel Alliance.
- Alliterative Name: Mich Matt.
- Badass Bystander: After being freed by the rebels, the group decides that if they're important enough that the Empire wants them, they might as well funnel their efforts to the Alliance.
- Tuckerization: Of Matt Michnovetz, a writer on The Clone Wars and Rebels.
Nakari Kelen
Nakari Kelen
Species: Human
Homeworld: Pasher
Appearances: Heir to the Jedi
The daughter of Fayat Kelen, the head of Kelen Biolabs, Nakari joined the Rebellion and served as an agent and trainer shortly after the Battle of Yavin.
- Action Girl: Very skilled with a blaster and a compact slug rifle, which can punch through blaster armor.
- Character Death: She is killed by a bounty hunter who fired a grenade launcher at her sniper position during a firefight on Omereth, with the shrapnel from the explosion embedding into her body, killing her almost instantly.
- Cool Ship: The Desert Jewel, a luxury yacht modified and outfitted to serve as a support ship on missions for the Rebellion. Nakari paid for the upgrades by selling a Krayt dragon pearl from the one she killed.
- Double Tap: She routinely shoots her downed enemies again to make sure they are dead, which makes Luke somewhat uncomfortable.
- Friendly Sniper: She is one of the best snipers in the Alliance, with even Major Derlin praising her skills.
- Hidden Badass: Mentions that she once killed a Krayt dragon while hunting on Tatooine. For reference, that massive skeleton C-3P0 passes by in A New Hope belongs to a Krayt dragon.
- Missing Mom: Her mother was a backup singer in a band who helped write a popular song that mocked Darth Vader. This got her and the rest of the band sentenced to the spice mines of Kessel, which has a life expectancy of one to two years. Since it has been ten years since then, Nakari and her father are sure she is dead. This motivated both of them to support the Rebellion.
- Non-Idle Rich: Despite being wealthy biotech moguls, she and her father are both active supporters of the Rebellion, and Nakari serves as an agent on the frontlines against the Empire.
Drusil Bephorin
Drusil Bephorin
Species: Givin
Appearances: Heir to the Jedi
A cryptographer renowned for her ability to breach secure communications systems, Drusil offered her services to the Rebellion. After she was detained by the Empire, the Rebellion sent Luke Skywalker and Nakari Kelen to rescue Drusil and her family.
- Good with Numbers: The hat of the Givin, but Drusil is particularly gifted and talented.
- Happily Married: With two kids. She only agrees to help the Rebellion if her family's safety is also guaranteed.
- Humanoid Alien: Has the basic human shape, but a distinctly alien appearance.
- Kidnapped Scientist: The Imperial Security Bureau kidnapped Bephorin and her family to ensure that she cooperated with them.
- Skull for a Head: Her skull-like appearance somewhat unnerves Luke when he first meets her.
Kidi Aleri
Kidi Aleri
Species: Cerean
Appearances: Moving Target
A female Cerean communications specialist assigned to Leia's team during Operation: Yellow Moon.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Her relationship with Lok eventually evolves into this, and they act upon their feelings in the last stage of their mission.
- Communications Officer: She is a skilled comms specialist who has memorized the Alliance's comm codes and encryptions and is able to create new ones on the fly. Kidi carries a ton of equipment with her as well, having multiple datapads running information at once and is usually found with a communications headset on.
- Defector from Decadence: She used to work for the Imperial signals corps before deserting and joining the Alliance.
- Good with Numbers: Unsurprisingly for a Cerean comms specialist, which also allows her to memorize all of the Alliances codes. Turns out to be a bit of a bad thing when Lok points out that makes her a massive security risk if she ever gets captured by the Empire.
- The Idealist: She is the most idealistic member of Leia's team during the mission.
- Mission Control: She is less useful in combat than Antrot since he can at least create explosives.
- My Brain Is Big: Being a Cerean, she has two brains in her conical head.
- What the Hell, Hero?: She is not pleased with Leia or the Alliance when she learns that Operation: Yellow Moon is not actually about recruiting more ships and soldiers to the Alliance, but rather setting up a false trail for the Empire to follow to throw them off of the gathering Alliance fleet at Sullust while putting everyone who responds to the operations message in danger.
Conder Kyl
Conder Kyl
Species: Human
Homeworld: Chandrila
A slicer who worked for the New Republic after the Battle of Endor, later becoming its chief of cyberwarfare. He entered into a relationship and later marriage with former Imperial loyalty officer Sinjir Rath Velus, who had defected to the New Republic.
- Crazy-Prepared: One of his teeth contains a comlink that he can activate in case he gets into trouble or captured.
- Happily Married: Last Shot reveals he tied the knot with Sinjir.
- Non-Action Guy: He doesn't know how to fight and gets captured by Black Sun while on a mission to investigate the Senate's corruption on Nakadia. Thankfully, he has Sinjir around to get him out of trouble.
- Straight Gay: Similar enough to his husband, Sinjir, in personality.
- Took a Level in Badass: He goes from being a freelance slicer to the chief of cyberwarfare for the New Republic.
Unidentified group of Bothans
Unidentified group of Bothans
Appearances: Return of the Jedi (mentioned only)
"Many Bothans died to bring us this information."
— Mon Mothma
Before the Battle of Endor, some Bothan spies are involved in the stealing of the information for the second Death Star. Many of them died to bring the Alliance that information.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Their sacrifice to give the Alliance the information about the location of the Death Star and the fact that the Emperor was personally overseeing construction make the movie possible.
- Lethally Expensive: Mon Mothma points out many Bothan spies had died to bring the information about Death Star II for the Alliance. And only succeeded because the Emperor allowed it, or so he says.
- Noodle Incident: Mon Mothma doesn't elaborate on how exactly they got the intel about the Second Death Star, other than to mention that it involved the deaths of many Bothans. She looks particularly distraught when she brings it up.note
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Whatever they did to steal the information about Death Star II, it allows the Rebels to attack and destroy Death Star II in the end. Unfortunately, it's also a Negated Moment of Awesome, as Palpatine reveals to Luke that them getting the plans was part of his greater design, and their deaths could have been avoided.
- Posthumous Character: The first and only time Mon Mothma mentioned them is when she told the rebels that they died.
Rebel cells under the Rebel Alliance
Jennica Pierce
Colonel Jennica Pierce
Species: Human
Homeworld: Tatooine
Appearances: Commander
A former moisture farmer from Tatooine who joined the Rebel Alliance to seek justice after the Empire's search for two droids destroyed both her family and her farm.
- Colonel Badass: Held the rank of Colonel in Rebel Alliance.
- Farm Girl: She was a moisture farmer in Tatooine before joined the Rebel.
- Good Counterpart: To Captain Kosh, being the character who assigns missions to Saponza's gang if they chose to work with the Rebels.
- Mission Control: Jennica is the character that assigns missions in Star Wars: Commander if Saponza's gang has chosen to align themselves with the Rebels.
- Rebel Leader: Of a local rebel cell in Tatooine.
- You Killed My Father: The Empire killed her family (and destroyed her farm), so she joined the Rebels to seek justice against the Empire.
Saponza and his partners
Saponza
Joining the Rebel Alliance is their canonical story path. See their entries on the Bounty Hunters and Mercenaries page.
Droids
2-1B
2-1B
Model: 2-1B surgical droid
Portrayed by: Denny Delk
Appearances: The Empire Strikes Back | From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back | Return of the Jedi
"Every creature in this universe alters and evolves from minute to minute. We are not the same as we were only a day ago. We are ever changing, fated forever to exist in a state of decay and creation."
A Rebel medical droid stationed at Echo Base. It treated Luke after his encounter with the wampa and when he lost his hand to Darth Vader.
- A Day in the Limelight: The short story "Right-Hand Man" from the second volume of From A Certain Point of View focuses on 2-1B as he attaches Luke's cybernetic hand and struggles to help his patient deal with the emotional fallout of his encounter with Darth Vader.
- Compliment Backfire: He is horrified when Luke calls him a poet after 2-1B gives him a passionate speech reassuring him about his cybernetic hand not making him any less of a being, and decides to get his programing checked for reconditioning. However, his later thoughts suggest that he is secretly something of a poet and that he wants to hide that side of himself from the other medical droids.
- Grew Beyond Their Programming: He was programed to treat his patients, but he has come to empathize and care for them on a emotional level as well. He does find it somewhat awkward to reassure patients in emotional distress, as he wishes to help them but typically struggles to find the right words.
- Hidden Depths: He is quite knowledgeable about the Jedi, Sith, and the Force, as medical droids exchange and pass down knowledge on injuries they have seen throughout centuries. 2-1B uses this knowledge to reassure Luke that his cybernetic hand will not impact his connection to the Force and upon finishing attaching his new hand he wishes the Force to be with Luke, much to his patient's surprise and 2-1B's own embarrassment.
- The Medic: For the Rebel Alliance, and is so effective that Luke specifically requests him for treatment.
K-3PO
K-3PO
Portrayed by: NA
Appearances: The Empire Strikes Back
A protocol droid stationed at Echo Base, K-3PO is programmed to assist the Rebel command staff in strategic decisions.
- All There in the Manual: His name and job at Echo Base are given in Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know.
- Character Death: He is destroyed when the Empire assaults Echo Base.
- Palette Swap: Is essentially a white C-3PO.
- The Strategist: He is programmed to be one, assisting Rebel officers with his memory banks full of battle tactics.
